2027 Lexus NX Facelift Confirmed for Australia: Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid Only, Turbo-Petrol NX 350 Has No Place in the New Range

Image credit: Lexus Australia. Overseas pre-production model shown; Lexus says final range and specifications may differ.

Lexus has revealed an upgraded version of the NX, the mid-size SUV that has carried the brand in Australia for more than a decade, and Lexus Australia has confirmed it for this market. The local line is short: "Launching in Australia in 2027, the upgraded NX will be offered exclusively with smooth and efficient hybrid (HEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrains." In the next sentence Lexus also said the RX and LS will go electrified-only, with the RX 350 and LS 500 petrol variants to be discontinued here.

That is the whole of the Australian news so far. There is no price, no list of grades, no local specification and no date more precise than the year. So rather than repeat a global launch release, this piece looks at what the confirmation actually changes for someone shopping an NX today: which car drops out, where the tax lines fall, what the current range costs, and what Lexus still has to tell us.

What Lexus Australia Has Actually Confirmed

• Timing: 2027. Lexus Australia's NX coming-soon page carries the same wording and a register-your-interest form. Globally, Lexus says the new NX will reach markets from the end of 2026.
• Powertrains: hybrid and plug-in hybrid only.
• Collateral changes: the RX 350 and the LS 500 petrol variants are to be discontinued locally. Lexus has not said when.
• What is new, in Lexus's words: a next-generation platform, a new-generation hybrid system, refreshed exterior and interior designs, and a feature called Sensory Concierge that sets cabin lighting and fragrance.

Two days later Lexus Australia put some local context around it. It says it delivered its 50,000th NX in August, an NX 450h+ bought in Sydney, and that the NX has been its best-selling model in every year since it arrived in 2014. Its sales table shows the car's best year was 2023 at 6,875, followed by 6,123 in 2024 and 6,024 in 2025, with 3,853 sold this year to the end of August. That same release says Lexus Australia "will introduce the next evolution of the NX range in 2027". So this is not a niche update. It is the brand's volume car, and changes to its line-up land on a lot of buyers.

The Car That Drops Out: NX 350

Lexus Australia's current NX brochure, published in August 2026, lists three powertrains: the NX 350, the NX 350h and the NX 450h+. Only one of those has no hybrid system, and that is the NX 350. It uses a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol four making 205kW and 430Nm through an eight-speed automatic, with all-wheel drive. Lexus rates it at 8.4L/100km and 191g/km of CO2 on the combined cycle.

A hybrid-and-PHEV-only range has no slot for it. Lexus has not said when NX 350 orders close, and it has not said a word about the NX 350 by name, but the arithmetic is simple: if the new car is hybrid or plug-in hybrid only, a buyer who specifically wants the turbo engine and the conventional automatic has until the current car runs out. That is a small group, but it is the group most likely to feel the change. On Lexus's own figures the NX 350 is the most powerful NX you can buy without a plug, 205kW against the NX 350h's 179kW system output, and the only one with a conventional stepped automatic rather than a CVT. It is also by far the thirstiest, at 8.4L/100km against 5.0, which is the trade Lexus has decided its buyers no longer want to make.

The NX 250, the non-turbo 2.5-litre petrol, is already gone. Lexus Australia announced in July 2025 that it would not be offered once existing stock was sold, citing reduced demand. The upgraded NX finishes that job.

What the Current NX Costs

This is the most recent full NX price list we could find in Lexus Australia's press room, dated 7 July 2025, grouped by powertrain. Lexus describes these as manufacturer's list prices for media purposes, before statutory charges and on-road costs. Lexus's public site does not print prices outside its build tool, so treat this as a reference point and check today's figure with a dealer.

Fuel figures are the ADR 81/02 combined results from the August 2026 brochure. The plug-in hybrid's 1.3L/100km is a laboratory figure that assumes a full battery at the start, and its 87km electric range is on the older NEDC test, which generally reads higher than the newer WLTP test.

Where the Tax Lines Fall

This is the part of the story most buyers will not have clocked, and it is why the NX's powertrain mix matters more in 2026 than it did when the current car launched. As general information for the 2026-27 financial year, there are two luxury car tax thresholds: $91,661 for fuel-efficient vehicles and $80,809 for everything else. Since 1 July 2025, "fuel-efficient" means a combined figure of 3.5L/100km or less. Before that date the line was 7.0L/100km, which every NX hybrid cleared easily.

The current NX 350h is rated at 5.0L/100km, so it no longer qualifies. That puts the hybrid against the lower $80,809 line, and on the list prices above the AWD Sports Luxury and F Sport grades at $85,000 and upwards sit over it. The NX 450h+ at 1.3L/100km does qualify, so its line is $91,661: the Luxury at $84,500 sits under it and the F Sport at $96,000 sits over it. Luxury car tax is worked out on the car's GST-inclusive value, which includes any parts, accessories or attachments supplied with it, so a car near the line can land either side depending on how it is optioned.

What this means for the upgraded NX is simple to state and impossible to answer yet. If Lexus's new-generation hybrid system gets the non-plug-in NX to 3.5L/100km or below, it moves to the higher threshold and Lexus has more room to price the grades without tax biting. If it does not, the hybrid stays against $80,809. Lexus has not published an Australian fuel figure for the new car, so nobody can tell you which way that goes. Both thresholds are re-indexed every 1 July, so the figures in force when the new car is delivered may not be the ones quoted here.

On a novated lease, the picture is the same as today. Plug-in hybrids lost the fringe benefits tax exemption for cars first held on or after 1 April 2025, and there is no battery-electric NX in the plan, so on the rules as they stand no version of the upgraded car would be FBT-exempt.

What Lexus Has Shown Overseas, and Why We Are Not Treating It as Australian

Lexus's global release lists four prototype versions: a 450h+ plug-in hybrid and a 350h hybrid with all-wheel drive, a front-drive 350h, and a front-drive 300h with a 2.0-litre engine. Overall length grows by 30mm to 4,690mm, and width, height and wheelbase are unchanged. For the plug-in hybrid it quotes an electric range of more than 100km on the European WLTP test. Lexus marks the outputs, acceleration times and electric ranges as tentative figures for a vehicle still under development, and says specifications may vary by region.

None of that has been confirmed for Australia. A 2.0-litre hybrid in particular would be new to the Australian NX range, and Lexus Australia has not said whether it is coming. We will not quote global outputs or weights as if they apply here. The local range will be announced closer to launch, and that is the point to compare it properly.

What It Is Up Against Today

The upgraded NX is not in the comparison below because Lexus has not priced or specified it. What is in it are the NX hybrid and plug-in hybrid you can order now, and the cars an NX buyer is already weighing up. Pick any two.

The awkward comparison for Lexus sits in the Toyota showroom. We list the RAV4 XSE PHEV AWD at $63,340 before on-roads, with the same 227kW figure as the NX 450h+ and a 144km electric range. That is $21,160 under the NX 450h+ Luxury's list price. What the Lexus asks you to pay for is the badge, the cabin, the dealer experience and the Encore ownership program, and the upgraded NX will need a better cabin argument, not just a better hybrid, to hold that gap.

Of the premium plug-ins here, the Volvo XC60 Plus T8 Recharge is the closest on price, which we list at $84,200 before on-roads, within a few hundred dollars of the NX 450h+ Luxury, with 340kW in our listing. The Audi Q5 e-hybrid quattro 270kW is a step up, at $107,422 drive-away in Victoria as we list it. We also hold the BMW X3 30e xDrive, with 220kW and a 91km electric range in our listing; we have not re-checked its price against BMW, so compare it in the tool rather than on a number from us.

If you are cross-shopping the NX 350 specifically, the alternatives are drifting the same way. Most of the Audi Q5 grades we list now carry a mild-hybrid system. A buyer who wants a plain turbo-petrol premium SUV at similar money can still find one, such as the Genesis GV70 Advanced 2.5T, which we list at $80,300 before on-roads with 224kW.

What Lexus Has Not Told Us Yet

• Prices and grades. Nothing yet, including whether the current Luxury, Sports Luxury and F Sport structure carries over.
• Which powertrains. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid are confirmed. Front-drive, all-wheel drive and the 2.0-litre 300h are not.
• Fuel use, electric range and charging. These decide the tax position and the running costs, and none are published for Australia.
• Towing, kerb weight and boot space. The current NX has a 520-litre boot on Lexus's figures. Nothing is published for the new one.
• An ANCAP rating. The upgraded NX is unrated, and we hold no rating for it.
• A month. "2027" is all Lexus Australia has committed to.

What This Means for Buyers

If you want the NX 350, this announcement is your deadline, even though Lexus has not put a date on it. The current car is the last new NX you will be able to buy without a hybrid system. Ask a dealer about stock and build dates, and whether any run-out pricing is available; we track offers on our deals page.

If you want an NX hybrid or plug-in hybrid and you are buying in the next few months, the current car is a known quantity with published prices, a published brochure and a well-understood drivetrain. Waiting gets you a new hybrid system, a redesigned cabin and a new look, but you would be waiting on a price nobody has seen and a date nobody has named. If the tax line matters to you, the fuel figure on the new hybrid is the number to watch for.

If you are leasing through work, nothing here brings back the FBT exemption. The NX was never going to be the cheap novated option once plug-in hybrids lost it, and the upgrade does not change that.

If you were looking at an RX 350 or an LS 500, Lexus has said those petrol variants are being discontinued locally too, again without a date, and that both model lines will be offered with electrified powertrains only. We will add the upgraded NX to the CarSorted directory with full specifications once Lexus Australia publishes them.